Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
D) Part of my issue comes with the whole "fiscal conservative" label. I consider myself a fiscal conservative as well, but governments have gotten something entirely wrong. In the private sector every business carries some debt for capital projects; but in Alberta specifically there is a mania without financing anything at the government level that defies logic. If we are going to build a hospital today it should be financed for years to come as we will use it for years to come. Does that mean that the government is in debt? Sure. The alternative though is like trying to buy a home without a mortgage because you never want to have a negative balance sheet...its just foolish!
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Agreed. Somewhere along the way, Klein, Stelmach and co. demonstrated a clear lack of understanding, boosted by lack-witted rural masses conned into believing any government debt is bad. Only they are incompetent enough to suggest cutting programs at this stage. That is most definitely the way to a prolonged recession.
However back to the other side of the coin, I do think Canada's inferiority complex is showing a bit. Are we in a bad situation? Sure. Is it in the same ballpark as the US, or the UK, or much of the rest of the world? No... but spending and cuts to this magnitude suggest we're on the verge of nationalizing banks, or bailing out mortgage companies like other countries forced into multibillion dollar spending sprees.